Kieran Doherty

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Kieran Doherty
Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh

Paramilitary organisation	Provisional Irish Republican Army
Date of birth	16 October, 1955
Place of birth	Belfast
Hungerstrike started	22 May, 1981
Died	2 August, 1981
Days on strike	73

Kieran (or Ciarán) Doherty (Irish name: Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh; October 16, 1955 – August 2, 1981) was an Irish republican hunger striker and a a member (volunteer) within the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Belfast.

Contents 1 Background 2 Paramilitary activity 3 Hunger strike 4 Reference

[edit] Background

Doherty was the third son in a family of six born in Andersonstown, Belfast. He was educated at primary level at St. Theresa's Primary School and at secondary level at Glen Road Catholic Boys School (CBS). The Doherty brothers were known cyclists and sportsmen in the Andersontown area with Kieran winning an Antrim Gaelic football medal at minor level in 1971.^[1]

Doherty joined Fianna Éireann in 1971 and was interned by the British Government between February 1973 and November 1975. Kierans brothers Michael and Terence were interned between 1972 and 1974.

[edit] Paramilitary activity

In August 1976, while out to set a bomb, the van he was in was chased by the police. During the chase Doherty managed to leave the van and hijack a car but was caught as he was escaping. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 years for possession of firearms and explosives, with another four years for the hijack.

[edit] Hunger strike

He died at the age of 25 in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike in the Maze prison (known to republicans as Long Kesh). He lasted 73 days on hunger strike, the longest of the 1981 hunger strikers, and only one day short of Terence MacSwiney.

While on hunger strike he was elected as an anti-H-Block TD for Cavan-Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.

His girlfriend was Geraldine Schiess, although they never became formally engaged they became very close towards the end of his life. Before his arrest she had not known that he was in the IRA, but she became involved in smuggling communications in and out of Long Kesh. She gave an account of the hunger strike to David Beresford.^[2]

[edit] Reference

1. ^ Tírghrá, National Commemoration Centre, 2002. PB) ISBN 0-9542946-0-2 p.242
2. ^ Beresford, David Ten Men Dead